April 03, 1994|By TIMOTHY MULLANEY
Then, since the game was my father-in-law's birthday present, the people from the Orioles came around to lead our section in song. Jan van Amerongen isn't usually a provocative sort, but he couldn't resist standing up and saying "Go Yankees!"
Half the section sang, and half booed. The two young women the Orioles had sent up to lead the chorus looked confused -- clearly, in Baltimore it's bad to boo birthday boys. But even in the booing there was a humor and a warmth that would have been missing at Yankee Stadium. It was a very Baltimore moment.
The game was terrible, though Jan seemed to enjoy it. Rick Sutcliffe didn't have a thing, and Mr. Hall, still mad at us, went 5-for-5 with a homer over Camden Yards' 25-foot Tall Wall in right field. We left with the O's behind 9-2. Kim and I got one last chill when we heard on the car radio that Chito Martinez sent one to the warning track with two on and the score 9-5. Just a long loud out, though, and the Orioles' last hurrah for the night.
There had been no ambiguity this time: I rooted for the Os and against the Yanks, half of whose players I had never heard of, five years removed as I am from the long train commutes between New Jersey and Manhattan, during which I used to catch my sports news in The Times in the morning and the Daily News and Post at night.
It's simple.
The Orioles had a new home. So did I.
Timothy Mullaney is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.
